Starting a fitness program when you are over 60 years old does not mean you have to do killer workouts or pump heavy iron. Men over 60 who want to lose weight should select exercises that raise their heart rate, build strength and improve flexibility. In addition, you can make lifestyle changes that boost your activity level and burn calories, such as working in the garden, using the stairs, doing errands on foot and joining a social group centered around walking or hiking.
Cardiovascular Exercise
The American Heart Association recommends healthy adults do a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise weekly. Men over 60 should choose activities that raise their heart rate for an extended time. Typical cardiovascular exercises for older adults include swimming laps and walking. If you want more vigorous exercise, consider speed-walking, jogging or climbing stairs. The more intensely you exercise, the more calories you burn. If you burn around 500 or 600 calories per hour doing aerobic exercise daily, you can lose around 1 lb. per week.
Strengthening Exercises
Men who want to lose weight often skip muscle-building activities because they do not burn many calories. However, lifting weights or doing resistance exercises such as pushups and pullups burn fat and replace it with lean muscle mass. You raise your resting metabolism, which means you burn more calories around the clock. Dedicate 30 minutes three times per week to a circuit of exercises that strengthen your major muscle groups. Work you upper and lower body at the same time by doing biceps curls with squats or pectoral presses with lunges. Build core strength doing abdominal crunches while bicycling your legs.
Flexibility Exercises
On your quest to lose weight, it is key to protect your joints, muscles and tendons from injury. Be sure to warm up and cool down properly from exercising by walking or marching in place for a few minutes. In addition, do cardiovascular and strengthening workouts that include a portion of flexibility exercises. A rapid round of yoga sun salutations accomplishes these goals, as does an intense power yoga workout. Spend 10 minutes twice a week doing flexibility exercises or stretching.
Functional Fitness
Functional fitness training features a series of exercises and moves that support daily life tasks. The training can also be a challenging workout. Moves often include squats and lunges with biceps curls, a series which works the muscles that help you when you bend over and lift things. Functional fitness training often features tools such as resistance bands, kettle bells, exercise balls and hand weights to challenge different muscles and tendons. Some gyms call this type of workout circuit training or boot camp.
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